EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TRANSITION SETS STAGE FOR CONTINUED SUCCESS AT FARM FRESH RI
Providence, RI — After 16 years at Farm Fresh Rhode Island, Co-Executive Director Sheri Griffin will be stepping down in December 2022. Farm Fresh RI’s Co-Executive Director Jesse Rye will become the organization’s Executive Director starting in 2023.
Farm Fresh RI Board Chair Kristine Merz had this to share:
“For 16 years, Sheri has poured her passion, energy, and talents into furthering Farm Fresh RI’s mission to strengthen local farms and connect all Rhode Islanders to the health benefits and quality of locally grown and produced food. Her work has had a profound impact on the local food system in Rhode Island and New England and is evident in every Farm Fresh program, project, and event. With gratitude for all that she has done, the Board of Directors wishes Sheri the best as she focuses on pursuing other passions and interests and time with her family. Since 2013, Sheri has served as Co-Executive Director of Farm Fresh with Jesse Rye. The Farm Fresh Board is pleased to announce that Jesse Rye will become the organization’s Executive Director starting in 2023.”
In Sheri’s time at Farm Fresh RI, the organization has grown from a student-led project in shared office space in a basement at Brown University to an organization with a staff of 50 and a newly built 60,000 square-foot food hub in the Valley neighborhood of Providence. Sheri has helped to grow Farm Fresh from a small group with good intentions and limited resources into a nationally recognized leader in the good food movement.
“When I began volunteering for Farm Fresh in 2005, I was drawn to the idea of preserving farms and developing a broader range of food choices for us all. I wanted my children to grow up knowing about agriculture: that vegetables have seasons, that dirt is incredibly important, that the sun powers everything that we are. And I wanted to share this with as many people as possible. The experience of being with the organization has been rewarding beyond my greatest hopes. I will never stop being a passionate ambassador, advocate, and customer of Farm Fresh. I am stepping away from the organization to pursue other passions and interests, as well as to be more available to my family during a time of important transitions. I am eager to see the new ideas, opportunities, and pathways that Farm Fresh can follow with an evolution in leadership.”
First as a volunteer, then as Program Director, and finally as Co-Executive Director, Sheri has played a critical role in developing Farm Fresh’s programs to what they are today. Specifically, Sheri’s leadership and vision helped to establish:
Farm Fresh’s Wintertime Farmers Market, begun in 2007 at AS220 — The first wintertime market in Rhode Island, this market (now open year-round) continues at 10 Sims Avenue in Providence, after a successful decade at the Hope Artist Village in Pawtucket.
Bonus Bucks — Since its inception in 2009, this $1-to-$1 match for low-income shoppers using SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits at farmers markets has succeeded in connecting over $3M in federal benefits to local farmers across Rhode Island.
Market Mobile — What started in 2009 as a local food ordering platform and logistics facility in Pawtucket now connects a vast regional network of local farmers and food producers with local restaurants, schools, hunger relief agencies, and households. Since its start, Market Mobile has enabled over $30M in sales for local farmers and producers and is nationally recognized as a model for transparent local food distribution.
Harvest Kitchen — This processing kitchen and job training program for under-served teens began in 2010 in an effort to help farmers extend their season with value-added products, while teaching youth culinary skills. Harvest Kitchen has since trained hundreds of youth to join the workforce, while creating thousands of gallons of signature products like apple sauces and pickles, and many excellent meals at the Pawtucket cafe. Harvest Kitchen will be opening a larger scale processing facility at 10 Sims Ave in early 2023.
As Co-Executive Directors, Sheri and Jesse have collaborated on a shared vision for the success of all Farm Fresh RI programs and activities. Their efforts have resulted in a dynamic organization that is well positioned to continue to explore new ways to connect farmers and eaters into the future. The culmination of their shared leadership is on display every day at Farm Fresh’s new headquarters in Providence—a 60,000 square-foot food hub on a 3.2-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Woonasquatucket River. Sheri and Jesse put together a team that was able to deliver on the early dreams of the organization to have a home to call its own where local food and agriculture would always be center stage.
The opportunities as Farm Fresh moves forward are exciting. The new building, opened November 2020, has allowed all of Farm Fresh programs to grow and reach new ground. In response to COVD supply chain upheaval and economic distress, Farm Fresh began delivering local food to Rhode Island households as well as food pantries, senior centers and community organizations. These mission-centered efforts have connected farmers and eaters in new ways that showcase the power of local agriculture to care for our communities.
Building on these efforts, in 2022 Farm Fresh merged with Hope’s Harvest, a farm-based gleaning program that rescues excess and b-grade produce from local farms for delivery to the emergency food system. The joining of Farm Fresh RI and Hope’s Harvest represents a next step in bridging the divide between farmers and eaters.
As he prepares to take on a new role with the organization starting in 2023, Co-Executive Director Jesse Rye shared the following:
“It has been an honor to collaborate with Sheri for the past decade as Co-Executive Directors of Farm Fresh Rhode Island. In that time, we have had the opportunity to guide this work together and to see the organization achieve much success. I am so proud of what the organization has achieved and so thankful to Sheri for her vision, leadership, and friendship. We have a tremendous team in place and I am excited to see how emerging leaders and new voices at Farm Fresh will help guide the future of our work.”
About Farm Fresh RI
Begun in 2004 as a student thesis project at Brown University, Farm Fresh RI has grown briskly to capture the public interest in locally grown food and translate it into sales for RI farmers and producers. Strongly mission-driven, Farm Fresh achieved 501c3 status in 2007, and has since implemented a variety of programs to enhance the local food system of the New England region, with particular attention to farm viability and low-income access to fresh food. Farm Fresh RI operates a wide range of marketplace programs (retail, wholesale, processing) that engage and connect tens of thousands of local eaters with thousands of New England farmers and producers. Learn more at